Prologue

Late at night, in a richly furnished study, a man sat smoking. A window was open behind him, and the long curtains billowed in the breeze, the only sound besides his controlled puffs. His long tapered fingers held the cigarette to his lips, the glow from the cherry highlighted his intoxicating features in intervals.

He had a fierce, hawkish browline with long well- groomed eyebrows. His high cheek bones highlighted his strong jawline that had a shadow of stubble growing from the last couple of sleepless nights. His full well formed lips, were pressed into a hard line around the cigarette, compressing it.

A pair of deep amber eyes, with a dark look hidden inside pored over a document before him. In the front of the stack, clipped to it, was a picture of a woman taken from a far, candid shot. In it she was laughing as she held the arm of another man, as they were crossing a street.

Her face, or what could be seen of it, was lit up as she was looking at the man who's arm she was holding. His left hand lightly traced her features. A couple small piles of ash fell onto the document as he stared; which he quickly brushed away.

'At last..' He thought as he gently touched her image. . 'I have found you.'